Sooner - Tiger Preview

It's not that often that a team goes 9-3, wins their division, and is considered to have a disappointing season, but that's probably waht one woudl say about Missouri at this point. Prior to the beginning of the year, most assumed the Tigers would be the same offensive threat if not better (correct) and would be better defensively (not so much). Chase Daniel has had a solid year, throwing for 34 Tds and 3,880 yards. On the downside, the 13 picks are more than desirable. The defensive showed up suspect from the beginning of the season, with the Tigers allowing Juice Williams of Illinois a career day of 451 yards passing. The Tigers set as the 92nd ranked team in yards allowed, and are 117th in passing yards allowed. This does not bode well for the Missouri D.

The Sooners are coming in on a roll, having scored 60+ poionts in the last four games. They have the third best passing attack in the country, and the running game has come on with authority the past few games. Chris Brown and DeMarco Murray should finish teh game with over 1000 yards for the season. That'll be the first time that's happened since 1973, when Joe Washington and Waymon Clark (who?) both broke the 1000 yard barrier. To contrast, in that year, the Sooners threw for 1,011 yards for the entire year.

I just don't see how the Tigers are going to stop the Sooners. I'm more than a little concerned that Mike Balogun, third string LB, will fare in his first start against the tiger D.

I think the difference here is the Sooners ability to create turnovers and make third down stops. Missouri may resort to allowing the Sooners to score just so Jeremy Maclin can return the kick.